
The (second) Battle of Bornhöved took place on 22 July 1227 near
Bornhöved in
Holstein
Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany.
Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...
. Count
Adolf IV of
Schauenburg and Holstein — leading an army consisting of troops from the cities of
Lübeck
Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
and
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
,
Dithmarschen
Dithmarschen (, ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; ; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the ...
, Holstein, and various
Northern German nobles, defeated King
Valdemar II of Denmark
Valdemar II Valdemarsen (28 June 1170 – 28 March 1241), later remembered as Valdemar the Victorious () and Valdemar the Conqueror, was King of Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241.
In 1207, Valdemar invaded and conquered Bishopric of L� ...
and the Welf
Otto the Child.
Background
Valdemar and his predecessor King
Canute VI of Denmark had previously conquered Holstein,
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...
,
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
,
Lübeck
Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
(1202),
Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by Ratzeburger See, four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the distri ...
and the coast of
Pomerania
Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...
, including the island of
Rügen.
Battle
The contest was maintained with great firmness on both sides, and continued for an unusual length of time. The carnage was so great that its combatants are said to have fought knee deep in blood. The King of Denmark had one of his eyes shot out, and had several horses killed under him, but his troops and their allies fought with so much bravery that the victory would have been theirs had not the contingent from
Dithmarschen
Dithmarschen (, ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; ; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the ...
deserted their colours. At the most critical moment of the action these troops passed over to the enemy, and the Danes were obliged to give way. In the confusion that followed
Otto I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the
Bishop of Ribe were taken prisoner. Otto was sent to
Rostock
Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
, the capital of a
lordship
A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of eco ...
held by
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...
, where he was shut up in a fortress. But the King of Denmark, who escaped from the field, busied himself in repairing this disaster by forming a fresh army, with which he kept the enemy in check.
Result
As a result of the battle, the Danish border with the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
was moved north again from river
Elbe
The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...
to the
Eider River, the southern border of the
Duchy of Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been div ...
. This border remained in effect until 1806. The victorious Adolf IV of Schauenburg regained the County of Holstein and his fellow victor
Albert I, Duke of Saxony reasserted himself as
liege lord
Homage (/ˈhɒmɪdʒ/ or ) (from Medieval Latin , lit. "pertaining to a man") in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title t ...
of the
Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein
The Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein were titles of the Holy Roman Empire. The dynastic family came from the County of Schauenburg near Rinteln (district Schaumburg) on the Weser in Germany. Together with its ancestral possessions in Bückebur ...
against the Welf claim.
[Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: ''Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg'' e slevigske hertuger; German Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373-389, here pp. 373seq. ] Dithmarschen shook off Danish supremacy and returned to a very loose overlordship by the
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen
The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen () was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church that after its definitive secularization in 1648 became the hereditary Bremen-Verden, Duchy of ...
, paving the way for its de facto autonomy as a peasant republic until 1559. The
Principality of Rügen
The Principality of Rügen was a Medieval Denmark, Danish principality, formerly a duchy, consisting of the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland from 1168 until 1325. It was governed by a local dynasty of princes of the ''Wizlawiden'' (''Hou ...
was the only possession in the Holy Roman Empire left to Valdemar after the battle.
Notes
References
* Sir
Andrew Halliday Annals of the House of Hannover', v.2, London, 1826.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bornhoved 1227
Battles involving the Holy Roman Empire
Battles involving the Hanseatic League
Battles involving Denmark
Military history of Schleswig-Holstein
Conflicts in 1227
Military history of Hamburg
Military history of Lübeck
1227 in Europe
13th century in Denmark
1220s in the Holy Roman Empire
Valdemar II of Denmark
Battles involving Holstein